Zola had extended their RW by one week, and I was super excited because they were offering their full menu. Before the meal, they served a crispy flat bread along with tiny rolls. They were both delicious, but I decided to same some room for the rest of the meal! 
Originally I had wanted to take a double take on Tuna. Having the Tuna Tartare for Appetizer and their tuna mignon for the entree. Unfortunately, someone else had order the last tuna mignon. I was highly disappointed; I scrambled to find another entree. Nothing else had sounded as appealing. Then I saw that their beef sirloin came from a farm in Shenandoah Valley, I decided why not? I haven't eaten meat in about five months.
The tuna tartare was served with a cucumber salad and lemon cream on top, taro chips, and spicy lime vinaigrette.
The presentation was beautiful. The taro chips were lightly seasoned and crispy. To me the lemon cream was a little unnecessary on top. It didn't really go with the flavor of the tuna. The lime vinaigrette though was delicious, the spiciness definitely matched well with the tuna and cucumber on top.
My friend Amy ordered the Porcini Mushroom Ravioli as the appetizer dish. The flavor of the ravioli was decent, however, I found that the filling to be a bit mushy. I was somewhat expecting to see pieces of actual porcini mushrooms inside the ravioli.
The main entree was the biggest disappointment of the meal. First of all, when the dish was served pieces of the meat had fallen off the couscous and the whole plate was a mess. For a high class restaurant, something that's not presentable should not have been served. When the dish was delivered to me, I literally was thinking, "what the hell is this?" Secondly, I had asked for my sirloin to be cooked medium-rare. What was served to me looked to be medium-well. It was overcooked, so I asked for it to be taken back. The picture below tells the story.
After about 10 minutes, they brought my dish out again. This time, it was cooked right and it looked presentable. The meat was flavored well and cooked perfectly. The couscous though had some huge chunks of cream in some portions while some couscous just wasn't cooked well enough. The pancetta was a bit excessive in the couscous because there was already enough meat in the dish itself. The flavor was good, but it could've done without the pancetta.
Meanwhile, Amy ordered the Lobster Mac and Cheese, which sounds irresistible from the beginning! The portion was huge, and had a decent amount of lobster chunks in it. The flavor of the lobster was well incorporated into the mac and cheese. Overall a very comforting and satisfying dish.
I wanted a light finish to my meal, so for dessert I asked for the different flavors of sorbet. They had passion fruit, cassis and apple cider. I am a sucker for passion fruit, so I can't say no to that, but just to mix it up I asked for a scoop of cassis as well. Amy ordered a pear crisp tart. The slice of pear on her dessert was a bit bland. It wasn't crispy like a chip, yet it wasn't a full slice of pear either. Amy found it really hard to eat and gave up after one bite. For some odd reason, for a simple as a dessert of passion fruit and cassis sorbet, the kitchen managed to mess that up as well! Instead of the cassis sorbet, they brought out this toffee flavored ice cream. And of course once again the waitress was no way to be found. I notified the other waiter, and he took the dessert back in. When it was brought out again, I noticed that they had simply removed the toffee ice cream and replaced it with a scoop of cassis sorbet instead of bringing out an entirely new bowl.
I then asked for the manager, because I found this entire experience to be unacceptable. The food was good, but the the messing up of not once but twice took away what potentially could've been a very pleasant dining experience. I ended up having my meal for free, but I still walked out with a feeling of not wanting to return to Zola again.
Maybe for restaurant week, Zola just didn't take things very seriously. But it's no excuse to be serving food that's not presentable nor messing up a simple order such as sorbet. It's also highly disappointing that one of my only 2 RW excursions turned out to be so bad. People told me that I should give it another chance, but I'd rather take that chance to another restaurant that's going to be worth my time, palate, and money the next time I go out to eat.
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